There is a need to a keep the wind and cold off the face ears, chest areas during the winter months. There are a number of garments commercially available, which cover and fit around a person's temples, face, nose, ears and chest to provide warmth, prevent reddened and chapped skin, and warm, humidify and filter air. Such garments are often used for outdoor work or leisure activity in winter weather. One of the most ubiquitous of such garments is the traditional scarf or muffler, consisting of a generally rectangular piece of warm material. While the traditional scarf is flexible in how it can be worn, such as over the head, around the face and/or neck, or over the chest and neck, the traditional scarf is prone to loosening around the wearer. In particular, when worn around the face, a traditional scarf often falls lower on the face or allows significant gaps between the scarf and the wearer so that cold air reaches the wearer. This minimizes the effectiveness of the scarf in providing warmth.
Furthermore, traditional scarves are difficult to arrange so as to cover the wearer from the temple to the chest without increasing the risk of the scarf gapping and falling down or failing to provide adequate warmth. In addition, a traditional scarf covers the top of the wearer's head and hair when arranged so as to cover the wearer's temples, causing damage to the wearer's hairstyle. Thus there is a need for a face, neck and chest covering that does not fall down or gap and provides warmth and coverage from the chest to just below and around the eyes, including the temples and the ears without damaging the wearer's hairstyle.
The F811 Polar Balaclava & Neck Warmers pattern from The Green Pepper, Inc. shows a long neck warmer that covers the neck, chest and back with its fleece material shaped so that the bottom of the garment splits over the wearer's shoulders. The long neck warmer is one piece, fastened in the back. The neck warmer does not cover the wearer's ears, nose or temples. Nor is the neck warmer designed to be adjustable. Furthermore, the neck warmer is not contoured to fit the wearer's face, allowing gaps between the neck warmer and the person wearing the neck warmer.
Another common problem with the prior art winter garments is resistance to wearing unattractive winter masks in public. Scarves or masks are recommended by doctors for people with lung or heart disorders when the temperature drops below 35 degrees. Asthmatic children often are not able to play outside in winter and have difficulty walking to school for lack of a convenient, effective, attractive means of raising the temperature of cold air so that it is comfortable and safe to breathe. The outside activity of elderly and asthmatic adults is frequently restricted in cold climates for the same reason. People whose work requires that they be outside in cold weather, for example, telephone and electrical repair people, and people who exercise, also suffer from inhaling cold air. Resistance to the use of unwieldy or unbecoming masks in public endangers people with lung disorders and restricts outdoor ventures by people who need protection. A convenient, comfortable, secure, fashionable, durable, washable mask is needed to replace traditional scarves and cumbersome or unsightly alternatives.
Patented inventions attempting to address the problem of the effect of cold air on respiration are unwieldy, impractical, often interfere with wearing eyeglasses, and/or are unattractive. Cold weather masks such as O'Brien U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,290 and Edwards U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,300,240, 4,825,474 and 5,214,804 (with Carey) may warm the face, but leave the nostrils uncovered to inhale cold air. Three other masks, Ward U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,679, Tiger U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,671 (for cardiac patients), and Colman U.S. Pat. No. 3,768,100, are equally inconvenient for ordinary people with sensitive lungs when they go in and out of buildings and vehicles, take walks on cold days, or are around animals.